File:Medieval padlock (FindID 283918).jpg

English: An incomplete cast copper alloy barb-spring barrel padlock of Medieval date (c. AD 1200 – c. AD 1400). The barrel case is rectangular to trapizoid in section with flat top and bottom and sides that step inwards halfway down. The lower, stepped in section ends about four fifths of the way along with a solid cast end; the remaining section of barrel (the end near the tab) has a broken open bottom. At one end of the case is a projecting sub-rectangular arm (tab). At 90 degrees to the tab, parallel to the case, runs the bolt bar; this narrows to a point at the end opposite the tab and is sub-rectangular, 41.5mm long, 3.5mm wide by 3.4mm thick. The catch for this bar has broken away.

The barrel case at the tab end has a hole through which the slide-key could be inserted, this is T-saped with small cross bar and thick central leg. At the opposite (damaged) end, inside the case, there is the remains of a central vertical septum and central horizontal septum which suggests a mechanism with three spring strips. The sides and lower face of the case are decorated with lines of closely spaced rectangular and triangular indents, some straight, some waved. There are numerous file marks on the top of the case. The object is slightly worn and has a mid-green patina. The case measures 31.5mm long by 9.6mm wide and 13mm thick. The lock weighs 9.38 grams.

This padlock was probably used on a casket (Egan 1998, 92). Parallels from London (e.g. Egan 1998, 93; ref. 244) have come from pre-fourteenth-century contexts, although elsewhere they have been found in fourteenth contexts (Geake 2001, 50-51).